Our Simple Life 8.19.05

It's midnight and I can't sleep so I thought I would just get up and write a little, maybe read my book. We took a walk last night after a late dinner (we have gotten into the after 8pm dinner times around here) and had a gelato. Too late for me I think because now I cannot sleep. Anyway, here I sit, trying to think of what I want to say.

I had a really nice conversation with my brother and his wife the other day and Fred asked me if we still felt like we were on vacation or if we felt like we really lived here. I answered without really thinking a lot about the question that since we did not have a house of our own or jobs or even a car, and that since we were still doing the things that tourists do, like visiting all the surrounding cities and going out most days exploring the different areas of the city, often with a camera around our necks and my paints in my bag, that we did still feel like tourists.


Not quite locals but more than tourists

So it's true, that we do not feel like "locals" yet. I don't think we ever would even if we spent years in this city, in this country. But the truth also is that we feel very comfortable and at home here. We have always liked Perugia, but spending so much time here, we have really come to love the city. We enjoy very much the look and feel of it - its broad Corso Vannucci, where everyone comes to passeggiata; the wonderful medieval streets with all the stone arches and portas; the colors of the city - its warm palette of golds, pinks and oranges, its tans and browns and wonderful old red tile roofs; the way the city cascades down the hillside meeting the green mountains around us. We love looking out at the lights twinkling around us in the evening from every viewpoint.

We know where things are and how to find most of the things we need. We know now to pick up the little guide each month that tells us what is going on where. We know which restaurants we like and where to get the best pizza. We have a favorite gelato place. We know how to send mail at the post office (more complicated than you might imagine!) and where to get the best notecards. We know if the sky is overcast we better bring an umbrella. We know how to buy our bus tickets from the crabby guy at the bus station (for weeks I would try to ask him in my best Italian about the buses and he was always cranky and unfriendly. Then one day Bob tried just tried asking him in English and he was perfectly fine, almost friendly! Go figure.)


The Rhythm of our Days

We have fallen into an uneven rhythm here. We sleep until around 8 - except for the days I get up earlier and maybe early enough to go out to watch the sunrise from our garden view. One of the things I love doing in the morning is opening the windows. I know that may sound silly to you, but in Phoenix, especially in the summer, our houses are locked up, closed down, trying to keep out the heat and keep in the A/C, we would never ever have the windows open all day as we can here! I have even slept with the windows open at night, feeling the cool summer breezes on a few of the warmer nights.

We have our breakfast together - sometimes out in our little yard, sometimes in the kitchen - cappuccino and some bread and butter, yogurt, fruit. Simple meals. Some days I just putter around the apartment, doing a little painting or writing or reading. Some days we go around to the market to pick up a few things. Sometimes we might explore another city by bus or train. Some days, like yesterday we took the bus to the big supermercato called "COOP" that is near the train station to stock up. They have everything there, all in one place and we only buy as much as we can carry, in our cloth shopping bags, home on the bus.


Touching Fruit and Drinking Cheap Wine

We like the big supermercato because we can touch everything ourselves and pick our own fruits and veggies (they provide these gloves that are like thick plastic bags with fingers so your naked hands are not molesting any innocent fruit). In the little markets we point or say "Vorrei degli pommodori, or zucchini or whatever (I would like some tomatoes...) and they pick you some and put it in a bag. We like supporting the little shops and the idea of it, but must admit the prices are better at the larger supermercatos, which is better for our "live cheap" lifestyle. And, at first it all seemed quite charming and romantic to go out every day to buy our groceries for the days' meal. That got old after a while and for us, there are just too many other things to do with our days than spend them in the grocery store. Sometimes we purposely make extra so the next day we can have the leftovers, heated up. Easy, quick and good. Sometimes the sautéed vegetables become part of tomorrow's pasta dish or the leftover roasted chicken gets tossed into a salad. We try to be very economical and not waste anything. Bread that's not too fresh in the morning becomes French toast.

We have limited storage space so we shop around once a week, putting some meats in the freezer for later in the week, making sure we shop before Sunday since everything is closed, even the big market. We buy bread more often at the pasticceria, and fruits and vegetables, as we need them also. But they know us now and it's fun to try different kinds each time, finding the ones we like and the ones we don't. Just yesterday in fact we found a wonderful chubby round loaf of whole wheat bread that is absolutely yummy!

Wine is really cheap and good. We only buy bottles that cost less than 5 euros and since we are far from wine aficionados we are perfectly happy with our cheap wine and drink some almost every night with our dinner. We sometimes take a bottle, some plastic cups and a snack and go down to our View, relaxing and watching the sun go down, very aware of how lucky we are.

We have done so much traveling since we arrived, going to the festivals, touring other cities, the month of July was amazing with going to the seaside and then our 10 days in Paris, that we promised ourselves we would lay low in August and just stay in Perugia. I wanted to paint more and read more. We have set out most days to do just that, going our separate ways in the morning and meeting up at home later in the day. I have had some lovely naps in the afternoon (the other day I set my glasses on the bed next to me and then rolled over on them! I took the mangled mess to an eyeglass shop near our internet café and thankfully he was able to straighten them out for me so I didn't have to buy a whole new pair of glasses!) We have taken advantage of the cultural events in the evenings. Our days are full and productive but unrushed and relaxing. We take each day, each hour of each day, as it comes. By bedtime I can hardly keep my eyes open. The only stress we have is self-imposed: to write, to draw, to paint, to photograph; and of course dealing with the various technical issues of the computer. What will come of it we don't know. We are just trying to enjoy the process and not worry about the product, but that is often difficult especially for me but I'm trying!


Italian Lessons

We decided that we really needed further instruction in the language. We practice speaking with each other and of course on our daily rounds but still are far from fluent and want to be able to understand better what is being said and to be able to have more complicated conversations than those we have at the supermarket about which tomatoes to buy. I get so tongue-tied sometimes trying to think of the right words to say and it's really difficult to have all but the simplest conversations. It's the weirdest thing sometimes - we think one thing and out of our mouths comes the wrong or even completely opposite thing to what we wanted to say. Like the day I told Rita, our landlady, that we were going to Paris for 10 years when I certainly know the difference between "giorni" (days) and "anni" (years) but that's the kind of stuff that happens. So we asked our former teacher at the University if she knew someone who could help us and she put us in touch with a lovely woman named Roberta, who is going to come to our apartment once a week for two hours and give us private lessons! It's affordable enough for us and will, we hope, help us learn more quickly. We'll let you know how it goes.

I hope whoever is reading this finds it interesting and not too boring. It's always nice to know who's out there and what you think, so thanks for the comments. Our daughter Jessica asked us to put dates on the posts so that she could keep better track of where we were at any particular date. So I have started dating just the stories but not the photos that are posted. So if you are looking at the list on the right side of this blog page, you will see the past entries. The ones with dates - from the past month or so I guess, and before that - are the stories, undated titles are photos.


Buona notte, (maybe I can get back to sleep now!)
Rosemary & Bob

p.s. Thanks to Barbara (Barb & Art) for sending me all the wonderful recipes. I can't wait to try them!